Sunday, March 31, 2013

Work has been extremely busy lately which is why I've been silent for a few weeks ... however fear not as progress has been made on several fronts! I've been fortunate enough to have another large wave (perhaps my final wave) of French and Indian War miniatures completed for Muskets and Tomahawks. I'll be making a separate post for my French reinforcements that are done now - this post is focused on the civilians and settlers that will be filling out my local habitations - both native and not. Once again a special thanks to Artmaster Studio for great work.

First up, those awesome Perry Miniatures wagons that are available. I just had to have these are they are a excellent added touch to any battlefield. I have three wagons of various sizes that I'll use for scenarios (escort for example) or to just add some flavor to the local battlefield.

Powder cart, Perry Miniatures AW125

Tumbrel cart, Perry Miniatures AW127

Ammunition wagon, Perry Miniatures AW126

I've added 12 native "civilians" as well (as I have a few long houses and will do up a small native settlement).

Conquest Miniatures

Conquest Miniatures

Redoubt Enterprises

Redoubt Enterprises

My american colonists are led by the Mayor (local leader) and his lovely wife.

The Mayor and his wife (or mistress)

Rounding out the american colonists are 20 of the sort you'd find around town or on a farm. These are a mix of Conquest Miniatures and Perry Miniatures.

American colonists

American colonists

American colonists

American colonists

I'm working through basing a new French regiment of regulars (La Reine) and an officer and two units of Canadian Militia (Coureur des Bois). I'm also doing a large batch of Bolt Action vehicles for my German and British armies (~15 vehicles), and of course more terrain - so lots to come!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I just finished painting my British 6pdr anti-tank gun. I also wrapped up my PaK40 the other day and now both my British and German armies have anti-tank gun teams added to them. I haven't done any camo on the PaK40 yet ... I may do it ... I may not ... going to wait and see.

Before we get to the pictures ... how about a quote from Kelly's Heroes (after Cowboy drives into the barn at the beginning and crashes into a support column):

Corporal> "God dammit Cowboy!"Cowboy> "I don't know what shit you talk'in bout boy; there aint three tanks out there, there's about 20 of them - aint that right Willard!"

Saturday, March 2, 2013

With my recent games of Bolt Action I've been inspired to build some blast markers/explosions and some craters to represent artillery and mortar strikes. Hopefully you like them --- I'm looking forward to using them in my games!

I started with the armatures. I used my drill to drill holes at angles for the "outside" ring of the blast and drilled a straight up hole for the center of the blast. I used my small hand drill for the small blast marker to achieve the same structure for the armatures on the small base. Picture below.

Base and armatures done

Next I used the hot glue gun to glue the Woodland Scenics clump foliage to the armatures. You really do need a proper hot glue gun (they are cheap) for this as if you just try to glue it you'll have a slow and/or difficult go of it. I start by getting foliage on the base, then I work the armatures individually, then I fill out the bottom of the blast a little as needed.

Now, using a hot glue gun for this you are going to get lots of "streaks" from the hot glue. Let them dry then use tweezers to remove them. If you try to remove them while they are not dry they'll make a bigger mess. Pictures below.

Adding the clump foliage

Adding the clump foliage

Next I got my spray paint out. The first thing you want to do at this point is get a healthy base coat of black primer on the clump foliage ... but that doesn't mean spray it from 1cm away! I recommend about 4 "rounds" of black spray. The first I try to hit it from about 8-12 inches away ... getting "under" it (as much as you can while it is not on it's side), in the sides, from the top down, all around. The reason you don't want to be too close is that the power of the spray will blow off the clump foliage. By taking a lighter approach first the paint will help secure the foliage that isn't set firmly by the glue. The second round I tip it on it's side and hit it from the bottom. The third round is really just touch ups ... making sure that I have got black into all the cracks and such. Pictures below.

Black and white spray primer

Sprayed black

Ok, almost there! This last step is critical. Time for the white spray primer.

Take your black blast markers ... get the GW white spray paint. It is critical that you do this from about 2-3 feet ... yes, feet, away. I start far away and move a little closer depending on how the white is applying to the clump foliage. If you are too close you'll get black recesses with very white clumps ... it will look not right. You are attempting to get the blast marker into the "mist" of the spray paint. I spray at all the various angles until it looks right. Once you get this done the blast marker is complete. Pictures below.

Completed blast markers

Large blast (for artillery strikes)

Large blast size comparison (that is a Warlord Games
28mm Bolt Action miniature)

The small blast marker (for mortar strikes) - note it
is sitting in one of my blast craters

Small blast marker beside a blast crater

Ok, they'll do ... not the best but good enough for me. You can of course add some "flames" in there if you want using colour washed cotton, or the Flames of War pre-coloured flames (not sure if they still sell it ... I used to have a bunch).

Friday, March 1, 2013

With the release of Wave 2 (huzzah!) of the ships for the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures game by Fantasy Flight Games I've been able to complete my fleet of ships for both the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Fleet.

The fine folks over at Battle Foam have several sets that help protect your miniatures. I had picked up the P.A.C.K. 216 set that includes foam trays for all the ships I have and the rules, markers and such.